A special school is set to expand onto a new site to help take in around 100 more youngsters with “additional needs.”
The extension will be built on Crompton Way, close to the new Jubilee Centre, for Firwood Special School to help meet growing demand from families across the borough.
The proposals are currently at the pre-planning stage and Bolton Council has invited the public to give their views on how they could be realised.
Bolton Council young people’s champion Cllr Rob Morrissey said: “Firwood School provides excellent education for young people with additional needs.
“It’s fantastic that, despite the constraints of the site at Top o’ th’ Brow, the school is still able to expand and extend its brilliant provision to even more young people in Bolton with additional needs.
“This is another piece of good news following the school’s “Good” Ofsted rating last spring.”
Bolton Council has now launched a public consultation to allow people to give their opinions on the proposals for Firwood Special School.
The new extension on Crompton Way will provide extra space for secondary and sixth form pupils while the existing Stitch-Mi-Lane site will stay open and offer more spaces for pupils there.
The school has only recently expanded at its site of Stitch-Mi-Lane but the council has said that more places are still needed to meet the growing demand of parents across Bolton.
Town hall officials say that because of the sloping nature of the land and the limited space outside on Stitch-Mi-Lane, they needed to find an alternative site.
This is why they have selected the site close to the Jubilee Centre, which officially opened last year.
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The flagship £6million centre was opened to great fan fare in June last year and works to provide a support hub for people with disabilities from all over the borough.
According to the town hall, the new facility for Firwood Special School will be created as part of a partnership between Bolton Council, Bolton Care, which runs the Jubilee Centre, and the school.
The proposed site is next to the Jubilee Centre, to the back and side of the facility.
The consultation will be open until Monday February 19 and can be found on the active consultations section of Bolton Council’s website.
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